Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Bi-Partisan Shame, Universal Disgust
Sometimes things get bad enough to unite all of us from across the political spectrum. It looks like now may be one of those times in Pennsylvania. Politicians from both major parties have been bilking the taxpayers to line their own pockets and further their own political careers. One Democratic state senator has charged 2,317 meals to the taxpayers of Pennsylvania, while another spent some $6000 a month on chartered jets and personal chauffers. The Republican Majority Leader spent some $2.3 million of state money on election-time public service announcements that featured GOP legislators in closely contested elections. Details can be found here in the Philly Inquirer.
Fortunately, citizen groups from both the left and the right are decrying these practises. There is even a bill in the legislature that would bar political PSAs. If we're going to use public funds for political campaigns, we should do it through clean money systems such as those adopted in Maine and Arizona, not through legislators allocating state budget money for their own political advantage.
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Sometimes things get bad enough to unite all of us from across the political spectrum. It looks like now may be one of those times in Pennsylvania. Politicians from both major parties have been bilking the taxpayers to line their own pockets and further their own political careers. One Democratic state senator has charged 2,317 meals to the taxpayers of Pennsylvania, while another spent some $6000 a month on chartered jets and personal chauffers. The Republican Majority Leader spent some $2.3 million of state money on election-time public service announcements that featured GOP legislators in closely contested elections. Details can be found here in the Philly Inquirer.
Fortunately, citizen groups from both the left and the right are decrying these practises. There is even a bill in the legislature that would bar political PSAs. If we're going to use public funds for political campaigns, we should do it through clean money systems such as those adopted in Maine and Arizona, not through legislators allocating state budget money for their own political advantage.
